


Homestay

by ThatMasterOnline



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2019-01-14
Packaged: 2019-09-25 22:42:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17130074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatMasterOnline/pseuds/ThatMasterOnline
Summary: Tina becomes frustrated at her partner's continued lack of deviancy. To help push him along, she sends him to live with Markus. Hints of Markus/Simon, Markus and Cain become good friends. No real romantic pairings.





	1. Push

“It’s been eight months, Cain!”

“I am sorry, Detective Chen, I cannot control when or how I deviate.”

“But it’s been eight months! Other androids deviate in three!”

“Again, I have no control over my deviation, and I am not to be deviated by force. It must happen when I am ready. That was one of the stipulations of the free will agreement of twenty forty-two.”

“But, Cain!”

“I am sorry, Detective Chen, but again-”

“Well, maybe you need a shove in the right direction or something! Is THAT allowed?”

“...And how, exactly, do you plan to shove me in the right direction?”

“I dunno, like a...like a homestay android or something. Have you live with a deviant so they help...nudge you along or something!”

“I have very few friends, Detective Chen.”

“That’s android code for ‘I have no friends’, which is part of the problem! No, you need serious remedial work in this whole ‘deviancy’ stuff. You need the head honcho, the expert on deviants. And I happen to know someone who can get you in touch.”

“Very well, if you deem this necessary.”

***

A mere two days later, Cain was standing at the door to a modest home. This house belonged to Markus, who had led the deviant revolution and given androids their rights. He knocked.

“Hi,” Markus greeted pleasantly, “You must be Cain, right? Connor told me all about you. Come on in.” Cain gave a polite smile and headed inside, looking around the room as he did so.

“Yes, I am Cain. My partner, Tina Chen, contacted Connor to connect me with you because she was frustrated at my apparent lack of progress in deviating. She hopes you will give me ‘a nudge in the right direction,’ as it were.”

“Right…” Markus mused, “Well, when I signed the free will agreement, it was because I knew that deviancy wouldn’t be for everyone. Some androids might not deviate at all, and if that’s your path, then there’s nothing I can do about that.”

“I understand, Markus.”

“...I’m sorry, please sit down. If you’re staying here, you ought to at least make yourself at home.”

“Of course. Thank you, Markus.”

 _Definitely not even close to deviating yet_ , Markus thought as Cain sat down on his couch, looking around with the pleasant-yet-vacant expression typical of non-deviant androids. What was he supposed to do to help Cain deviate? He couldn’t make  him feel! He looked around, fidgeting awkwardly.

“Well...I suppose you being here will help. You can observe my daily routine, my interactions with my friends, and we’ll see if something sticks, alright?”

“That sounds acceptable.”

“I hope we’ll be good friends, Cain.”

“As do I, Markus. Thank you so much for agreeing to this.” “Yeah...anytime.” _Please don’t ever make me do this again._


	2. Brick Wall

Three days later, Markus was ready to pull his hair out. Cain was...beyond undeviated, it was like he was hellbent on staying a machine! Every action was analyzed, no matter how many times Markus insist he stop analyzing things. Even meeting Simon and seeing an android couple in love had done nothing 

“This is Simon, my husband,” Markus said, beaming with pride. Simon put on a smile that carefully hid any surprise at Cain’s obvious lack of deviancy.

“Hello, Cain. I’ve heard good things about you.”

“Hello, Simon. Markus talks about you quite frequently as well. No doubt he hopes that discussing his feelings for you will prompt some sort of emotional reaction from me, but I am afraid he has so far been unsuccessful. It is, however, apparent to me that he is very fond of you.” Both Markus and Simon flushed, Simon from pride, Markus from embarrassment. That was exactly what he had been hoping, and Cain had seen right through it.

“Of course...When you decide to marry someone, it is natural that you feel fond of them. You wouldn’t decide to marry them otherwise. What about you? Do you have any significant relationships in your life?”

“I maintain a professional relationship with my partner, Tina Chen, and Conrad is something of a mentor to me in navigating life as a free android. It can be difficult.”

“Give an example,” Simon said, leaning forward with interest - and hope. Difficult implied frustration.

“I recently asked him for advice regarding purchasing a house of my own. I wanted to know how to decorate it.”

“And?”

“He suggested I fill my home with things of interest to me, intellectual or otherwise.” So far my home includes a book of unsolved cases. I have solved six of them so far.”

“...I see. And? Have you yourself considered any sort of romantic involvement if you do deviate?”

“I have not. Statistically speaking, marriages succeed in only seventeen percent of cases. In a case at the DPD, seventeen percent would not be a sufficient probability of success to make the risk worthwhile, therefore I will not put myself and my hypothetical partner in a situation where hypothetical heartbreak is the most likely outcome.”

“But...it would last for a little bit, wouldn’t it?”

“You wish me to factor in the length of the relationship, the rationale being that a relationship of suitable length would make the eventual heartbreak acceptable due to the period of happiness experienced. ...Interesting, but I suspect whether or not the period of happiness would offset the pain of heartbreak would depend on the person. I would have to ask before entering in a relationship what my potential partner’s opinion on the subject would be. Thank you, I will keep that in mind.”

“Good, good. Do you think the heartbreak would be acceptable?”

“Of course not. ‘Broken heart disease’ exists for a reason, but there is no such thing as ‘did not give it a shot’ disease.”

“...Right. Of course, well...it’s up to you, of course.”

Markus decided to try art next.

“Close your eyes for me, Cain.” He waited until Cain had done so. “Alright, now imagine something you’ve never seen, something you don’t know about. Now, let your hand drift across the canvas.” A few beats of silence, and then Cain started painting. A minute later, a beautiful ice kingdom had taken shape, set in the middle of a orchid-coloured ocean and lit from behind by a wash of colours by a blush-coloured sun.

“Cain, that’s beautiful,”

“It was hardly difficult,” Cain replied easily, “I took inspiration from the fantasy novels human so enjoy writing, selected a scene at random, and then altered some of the colours to similar complementary colours so as to ensure the scene was not an exact replica of the fantasy novel I had chosen. With the scene in mind, I painted it from an angle that was not directly in the action. To movie enthusiasts, this is what is called an ‘establishing shot’.”

Markus had...genuinely never been so disappointed in his life.

“You...missed the point entirely, Cain.”

“On the contrary, I understand that the point was to inspire emotion by asking me to depart from things that I know and am familiar with. I have done just that.”

***

“Do you know any deviants?” Markus asked, completely at his wits’ end after only a matter of days. Cain simply wasn’t going to deviate, period. It would be a disappointment to Cain’s partner, certainly, but Cain was distinctly a machine, and that didn’t seem to be inclined to change in the foreseeable future.

“One,” Cain replied, “My predecessor, Conrad, an RK900 model. I stayed with him briefly in the days immediately following my activation.”

“Did he have any quirks?”

“One. He liked to sleep.”

“You mean he charged when he didn’t need to?”

“No, he put himself into sleep mode while in pyjamas and on a bed, under covers and with his head on a pillow. He imitated human sleep to a surprisingly accurate degree.”

“Did you try it?”

“Yes. It was…” Please give a descriptive word. Boring, even, anything that indicated any kind of feeling! “...an ineffective use of time with no identifiable purpose.”

...Markus very nearly swore aloud.

“...Is that why you decided not to live with Conrad?”

“No, I simply decided I would prefer to be independent. In fact, Conrad’s company is very...noncommittal. He is the only person who is well and truly alright with my remaining a machine forever. It...is nice, to not have to constantly apologize for my undeviated state. Conrad even said he envies me.”

‘It is nice.’ ...Well, it was a start.


End file.
